Choosing Between Paper, Plastic and More

Most households these days have a store of bags- plastic ones, cloth ones, and paper ones picked up as a matter of convenience or as part of the weekly shopping routine. In these environmentally conscious times we all know that reuse is better than recycling (although recycling something is better than throwing it in the garbage), and when it we’re moving an office or switching houses there is always scope for using up all those old bags that have accumulated in drawers and cupboards around the house.

Plastic shopping bags have a multitude of uses. The can be used to wrap the bases of pot-plants to keep damp soil from spreading all over other items in the back of the mover’s van, for example, or for keeping damp away from clothing and textiles if you’re moving to storage rather than moving items to a new home. They’re also really good for keeping things organised inside the huge boxes that movers sometimes provide. Put underwear in one plastic bag, socks in another, t-shirts in a third, and you’ll be able to simply open the box at your new home, empty each bag into the appropriate drawer, and have all your clothes ready to wear.

Smaller plastic bags come in handy in the kitchen. Unless you’ve planned out your meals in the week moving up to moving day very carefully, you’ll probably have leftover flour, rice, pasta, salt and pepper, and other foodstuffs in the cupboards. A burst or spilt paper flour bag can make an incredible mess in a crowded moving truck, so double-bag each food in plastic shopping bags before boxing it up. It’s better to be safe than floury!

New plastic garbage bags can be used in the same way as smaller plastic bags, but they’ve got a greater capacity. They’re big enough to protect suit jackets and dresses that need to stay hanging- just punch a hole for the hanger hook and slide the bag over the garment.

Flat paper bags come in really handy when moving an office. They can help keep documents organised and prevent them from becoming dog-eared and damaged in transit, or used to store all those little pieces of stationery- staples, paperclips, pens and pencils, and so on. As a rule of thumb, the tidier and more organized you keep the items being packed into mover’s boxes, the easier it’ll be to unpack them at the other end.

These days greener shoppers are replacing their plastic and paper shopping bags with heavy duty cloth ones. These are a great help when moving. You can use them to carry oddly-shaped sporting goods or books- pack too many hardback books into a cardboard box and it’ll either break or be so heavy you can’t pick it up.

Because cloth bags are breathable, they can also be used to wrap precious plants in their entirety or store fruit and veg on the journey. Sneakers and running shoes should also be stored in breathable cloth bags- wrap them in plastic for a day and they’ll start to smell.